Snackbar Speculator: Going Pachter

There are two ways rumors get started. The first is simple: people involved leak the information or accidentally post it in public places. The second? Analyst and general media celebrity Michael Pachter. He says things, and apparently this makes them viable rumors. This week we’ve decided to come up with our own baseless speculation, Pachter-style.

Current score

Andrew Passafiume: +340

Graham Russell: +109

Eric Schabel: +65

Shawn Vermette: +185

Successor to Wii, PS3 or 360 revealed by or at E3 2011

I mean, it could happen, right? Seems like it’s about time. We haven’t heard anything about production at any plants, talks with chip manufacturers or the other things we could have gotten wind of. Nope, we just think this could transpire.

Andrew: I think this is partly true. I think we’ll be hearing about a new console from Nintendo relatively soon, but I think the earliest we’ll hear from Microsoft and Sony is 2012. Normally it wouldn’t be like this, but I think this console generation is a lot different. Developers are still trying to get the hand of these current systems. 15%

Graham: It seems like the antics of last year’s E3 were those of a late-system market, with peripherals dominating the conversation. If one of them fails (and it seems like that may be the case now), I’d think it’d be time to take your ball and go home, living to fight another generation. We should also keep in mind that the 360 is the oldest of the three out there. Of course, there’s not much potential left in the Wii, either: what do they do now, release a fourth Mario game? There may not be much left in the pipeline for them, but they haven’t lost steam in the marketplace. An early indicator with that: watch to see how much Wii-3DS connectivity there is. If there’s a big push, we have six more weeks of winter. 60%

Shawn: I think there’s a strong likelihood that Nintendo will introduce their next console by then, though I strongly doubt Microsoft or Sony does. Nintendo has known, or should have known, since they released the Wii that it would have a shorter lifespan than the 360 or PS3. Considering that they’ll have finished rolling out the 3DS by then, I can see them stealing the show with a new console.70%

OnLive to shut down by end of 2011

The MicroConsole has just released, and we’re already talking about its demise? Yep. Because it totally could happen.

Andrew: So far, it seems like OnLive isn’t doing that great. Most people seem to think the service isn’t too great, and I personally never saw the point of it. Seeing it shut down next year really wouldn’t surprise me. 75%

Graham: The company has existed through years of no income, and now they’re finally making some. It may not be very much, but I think it definitely has some potential in areas of low income but solid infrastructure, such as urban areas in developing countries. There’s one thing that could totally turn them around, though: a solid exclusive. 50%

Shawn: Well, I’ve been a member of OnLive since it launched, and I’ve yet to see any reason to actually use it. Sure, it would allow me to play PC games I otherwise couldn’t play on my weak laptop, but without a serious discount on prices, I see no reason to actually spend money there. Why pay just as much for what is arguably a rental service as I could to own the game through Steam or Gamestop? Going out of business seems like an inevitability for OnLive, I just don’t know it if will happen in 2011 or 2012. 65%

New NBA Jam game to release in 2011

We here like NBA Jam. EA likes making games into annual franchises. That’s about as far as we thought this through.

Andrew: I don’t think NBA Jam will sell nearly as well to warrant a sequel on any of the major platforms. It’s good they brought it back, but I doubt we’ll ever see another NBA Jam for quite some time. I’m sure EA would rather focus on their second try at Elite anyway. 30%

Graham: I think that, had EA not totally bungled the launch of this year’s game, it’s entirely possible that it could have gotten the momentum to get the standard EA “we could release a roster patch but that wouldn’t make us as much money so let’s make another full game” approach. Now it’s tough to say. But yes, I would buy it. 50%

Shawn: I don’t see it happening as a stand alone product again, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a new PSN or XBLA version of NBA Jam next year, especially if EA continues to have issues with their NBA Live/Elite/whatever-they-are-going-to-call-it-next series. 60%

Game no one remembers naming Game of the Year to get a Game of the Year edition in 2011

How many games can be Game of the Year at the same time, anyway?

Andrew: “Game of the Year” editions of games usually only happen with games that have sold incredibly well and have a decent amount of DLC support. It’s kind of unclear whether a game we’ll collectively forget will actually get a re-release like this. 50%

Graham: I just did a quick count, and I can find ten games in the past three years that had “Game of the Year” editions. That seems like seven too many, doesn’t it? I mean, anyone can dig up a site somewhere that’ll name it Game of the Year, but you have to draw the line somewhere. Call it “Ultimate Edition” or “Platinum Edition” or whatever, but calling it “Game of the Year edition” means there’s some sort of consensus. 50%

Shawn: There’s so many places that give out ‘Game of the Year” awards lately, that I’d be really surprised if a game that ‘no one’ has awarded that title to, had enough DLC and sales to get a Game of the year edition…though now that I think about it, Dragon Age 2 comes out next year… 30%